Jamie rises to put Grays on top
A dramatic last-minute winner from Jamie Stuart sent Grays to the top of the Conference table on Friday night as their fairytale start to the season continued.
Exeter City’s failure to beat Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday means Blues fans have had the whole week to bask in the glory of top spot and no-one can say Mark Stimson’s men don’t deserve it.
They have taken to the new league like ducks to water and have played some scintillating football to remain unbeaten after six games.
The key question is whether they can sustain such form throughout the season and with the transfer deadline gone and all his major players still on board, Stimson is in upbeat mood.
”To be top of this league is a fantastic achievement for this club,” he said. “We did something similar last year by topping the Conference South for the first time and now we’ve gone one better.
”The deadline has passed and we’ve managed to keep the likes of Dennis Oli which gives us a chance to have a real go at this league.”
Oli, who generated plenty of interest from league clubs right up until the transfer deadline, returned to the side after missing the Aldershot game and was at his devastating best on the right wing.
”He has come back and shown what he can do,” purred Stimson. “He played on the right today because I thought we could exploit their back three, but, to be fair, the boy can play anywhere and we are happy that he’s still here.
”A few clubs have been interested, Southend the most so, but I sat him down and told him that I think he will be bigger and better than Southend.
”He’s told me he wants to stay and it gives us a chance.”
Oli celebrated his return to the team with a predatory strike to open the scoring in the 18th minute and Grays looked in total control before an unfortunate handball from Stuart gave Paul Wanless the opportunity to equalise from the spot.
The second half was nip and tuck with chances falling at both ends before Stuart redeemed his earlier error by thumping home a marvellous header from Glenn Poole’s corner.
As well as Oli’s return to the team, Stimson made two other changes from the side that defeated Aldershot on Bank Holiday Monday with Gary Hooper and Joe Bruce coming in for Aaron McLean and Stevland Angus.
But in front of an enthusiastic home support it was Rovers who made the early running with Wanless testing Bayes with a stinging effort from range.
Grays soon recovered and led by their inspirational skipper Stuart Thurgood they began to boss proceedings.
Hooper hit the side netting from a Tony Battersby cross and then fired over minutes later when Oli’s shot, from Poole’s searching cross, was blocked by Rovers’ keeper, Ryan Clarke.
But the away fans didn’t have to wait too much longer for the break-through as a minute later Oli struck.
A rehearsed corner routine saw Thurgood pull the ball back to John Nutter on the edge of the box and his shot was deflected into the path of Oli who slotted the ball past Clarke.
Blues looked well in command when a rare error from Stuart opened the door for Rovers.
The ex-Charlton man was adjudged to have controlled the ball with a hand following Alex Meechan’s knock-down in the area, enabling Paul Wanless to restore parity from the spot.
From thereon in chances came and went at both ends. Oli craftily chipped onto the roof of the net from 25 yards and Bayes earned his money with two good saves to twice deny Scott Rendell.
A floodlight failure at half-time meant the restart was delayed by half an hour but it didn’t knock either side out of their stride.
Rovers’ midfielder Scott Rogers released Meechan in the area but he dragged his shot across goal when well place and Hooper’s turn and shot went agonisingly wide at the other end.
Bayes then made another fantastic save to deny the lively Meechan, acrobatically tipping over the ex-Halifax man’s shot after a Zema Abbey knock-down.
With the game heading for stale-mate, Blues showed all their reserves of character to put one last spell of pressure together and that effort was rewarded when Stuart climbed over the whole Rovers defence to crash home a header in the final seconds.
Report by Ryan Goad
Thanks to the Thurrock Gazette for the match report
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